Legislation expanding Missouri’s treatment court system to all counties was approved unanimously Thursday by the state Senate Judiciary and Civil and Criminal Jurisprudence Committee in Jefferson City.

Representative Austin’s bill allows a circuit court to establish a treatment court division, which could include a DWI court, family treatment court or veterans treatment court.

Governor Mike Parson (R), who called the special session, says expanding treatment courts will allow more people to receive treatment, rather than being incarcerated in what he describes as “our already overcrowded prison system.”

The Missouri Senate will gavel-in Friday morning at 9.

Click here to listen to the full interview between Missourinet’s Brian Hauswirth and Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Dixon, which was recorded on September 13, 2018 at the Statehouse in Jefferson City: